For years, some of the world’s leading scientists, including physicist Stephen Hawking, have warned against thinking and reasoning artificial intelligence and robots. They warn that the more intelligent the AI robots get, the greater the chance that the human race will be destroyed, or at least supplanted, by them.
With the advancements in current AI research and application, the warnings of Hawking and the others may not seem all that ridiculous or far away. Recently, a research team of bio-engineers from the University of Illinois have created what they believe to be a “psychic” robot in that the robot can determine a human’s intentions. By installing a new algorithm inside the robot’s brain, the robot can quickly determine what a human’s intention is and what they are likely to do based on the analysis of that person’s previous actions.
Lead author on the research, Justin Horowitz, said that, “We call it a psychic robot. If you know how someone is moving, and what the disturbance is, you can tell the underlying intent.”
In one particular set of experiments, the volunteers were to try and move or push an object around or off of a virtual desk. When they attempted to do so, their hands were intercepted and forced to go in another direction from where they wanted to originally go.
While the researchers are continuing with their research, some have considered that this algorithm and “psychic” robot sense could be made to work for such things as better self driving cars or “smart” prosthetics. Even people who suffer from serious injuries and strokes could, perhaps, make their intention not only known but put into motion.
PHOTO CREDIT: Pixabay